4 september 2010

a busy summer and extreme tea

I thought it was about time I wrote another blog and let you know what I've been up to for the last month or so. I've been really busy, finishing work, presenting awards, lots of training in the gym, Lifeboat Tea Extreme Tea campaign, MK SnoZone and my best friends wedding!

Back at the beginning of July I was invited as a celebrity guest at Durham Johnston School sports presentation evening, where I was given the honour of handing out some of the awards to many budding sports stars!  It was a huge privileged to be part of such a great event!

I've been training hard with John, my new strength and conditioning coach who has been putting me through my paces and making sure I will be ready to go for the winter!  I've also been doing some work with Daniel Cleal at Vitality Life Fitness who is based in Brighton. He has been focusing on my posture and movement efficiency, making sure everything is working as effectively as it can.  With Daniel I have done a lot of corrective exercise and seen massive improvements in my basic posture through working with him... This guy is a miracle worker!

Lara at Lifeboat Tea (my new sponsor) sent me a load of Lifeboat Tea stash to promote their "Extreme Tea" campaign which I am an ambassador for! So keep an eye for me in the orange colours of Lifeboat Tea! The "Extreme Tea" campaign was launched just over a month ago and through them I had my first page 3 appearance in the Sunday Sun... Fully clothed I may add... Click here for the link to the news story!  I was a great news story, but I must apologise to my current ski sponsor Head, goggle sponsor Big Bear/ POC and clothing sponsor Animal... The news paper used a very old photo of me without my knowledge with products I no longer endorse... Sorry Guys!

Last week I was at Milton Keynes SnoZone helping out at a combined Ski and Boarder Cross camp.  The camp provided an opportunity for young budding skiers and snow boarders to try out Ski and Boarder Cross and also for me to introduce the world of skiing to Lifeboat Tea and the Extreme Tea Campaign! We had a mini Extreme photo shoot to see who could get the best shot whilst skiing, but unfortunately my photo skills were lacking!! Click here for the photos.

One of my best friends, Dee got married last weekend. Wow, what a stress!! I won't be getting married for a while!  I was blindly buying suits for my boyfriend 1 day before the wedding hoping they would fit... The suit fitted, but 20 minutes before the wedding I was in a local supermarket getting a shirt and tie as my shopping skills lacked in the shirt size front! Anyway, I made it to the wedding just in time!  The day came together, my best friend looked beautiful and everyone had a perfect day!

Well, I must dash... I'm busy booking flights to Argentina to compete in two ski cross races at the beginning of September. It's all go now and my new Lifeboat Tea bag is packed and ready for it's first trip of many Ski Cross races!

If you want to see any of the photos from the summer click here.

30 March 2010

end of season history making

I can’t tell you how stoked I am with my recent history making… being the first British female ever to win a Europa Cup Ski event! My win took place in Val Thorens just over a week ago. It has been such a great confidence boost after a roller coaster of emotions this season; the disappointment of not being selected for the Winter Olympics and coming back from injury! It was great to get my form back and show what I can do and achieve!! I am looking forward to building on this form and getting even stronger over the summer!

My season ended at the French Champs in Megeve on Thursday (It was supposed to be Saturday in Switzerland, but the race was cancelled) where we had the French team including Marion the Olympic Bronze medalist competing! The spring snow made it difficult for the course builders, but they did a fab job, designed a great course and kept the event running extremely smoothly! We had a great team at the event consisting of 8 Brits and it was great to have such a team feeling! Unfortunately I made a few mistakes in my qualification but managed to hold on kamikaze style all the way down and squeezed into the semi-finals! A poor start gate made my semi very difficult and I ended up missing a gate, which meant I qualified for the small final. A better start and strong skiing meant I came 2nd in the small final placing me 6th overall in the French Champs… another great result to finish off my season! My teammates also had some top results with Craig coming 5th, Pete 7th and Gus 9th! Britain was dominating… not a familiar picture in British winter sports, but we have certainly been up there in Ski Cross in recent weeks!!

I’ve been back in Meribel since Friday and will be here for a few weeks coaching younger British Alpine skiers at the British Alpine Championships and ski instructing to get those much needed pennies before I have to say good bye to the snow and hit the UK and the gym!

Take care and I hope you have enjoyed following me through this tough and history-making season!!!

Em x

17 March 2010

The Swiss are really Ski Cross proactive, so last week I was looking forward to the 2 World Cups they had organised! The events were really well publicised and off the back off the new Swiss Olympic Gold medallist Michael Schimd there were loads of spectators for what should have been some really fun races!!

Unfortunately I was driving back from Geneva Airport after returning from the Swedish World Cup and my car tyre blew on the motorway! I wanted to be a princess and stay in my car to be rescued, but I knew it wouldn't happen on a Sunday at midnight! Therefore, I got out my car and went to change the spare wheel, knowing I was leaving for Switzerland on the Monday morning. Unfortunately I didn't know my own strength and managed to snap the locking bolt when trying to remove it, so there was no chance of getting the wheel off... typical! Luckily a friend came to collect me and I arranged a lift to the Swiss World Cup races with the French Olympian Chloe Georges who lives near me in The Three Valleys (thanks Chloe)!! Whilst driving to Switzerland I managed to get the car towed to a depot... not the perfect preparation for a World Cup! The car is still in the depot until the new part arrives from the UK and I can change the tyre!

Anyway, I arrived in Grindelwald last Tuesday where things went from bad to worse. In training I crashed and was skidooed to the medical centre to find I ruptured the ligament in my right thumb, but the extent of the damage couldn’t be determined... great! I need to say at this point a big thank you to Suzanne (my physio for the Swiss races) who took me to the hospital and arranged for a cast to be put on my thumb and moulded to the shape of my ski pole so I could still race. It worked and last Wednesday I qualified 31st making the heats. It wasn't a great result for me, I was tentative on the course because of the crash, but I was stoked to make the heats! Due to bad weather last Thursday the heats and finals were delayed until Friday, but on finals day I felt pretty relaxed and ready to give it my all. In my heat I got out in 2nd place at the start, but about half way down the course Christine Manhard (Germany) over took me mid air... it was an awesome pass, but I had no chance of catching her again and ended up finishing 3rd in my heat and therefore didn't advance to the next round. However, I was really happy with my start considering the state of my thumb and even happier to eventually place 29th overall!

Following the race, I pack my bags and we were off to the next Swiss stop, Meiringen. Mieringen produced a great course! It reminded me of the Olympic course in Cypress... loads of features, and SO much fun to ski, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! Qualification, which was last Saturday went ok, but a big mistake cost me some time so I only qualified 28th. I was still stoked at making the heats and super excited to be able to ski the course again in the heats against 3 other athletes! At Grindelwald and Miringen I teamed up with Mitchy (New Zealand) and Sami (Australia) to share a coach/ ski tech and we couldn’t believe it when we saw the draw for our heat! It consisted of me, Mitchey, Sami and Fanny Smith (Switzerland)! Yesterday morning, finals day, our ski tech was a little stressed having to put us all in our skis at the start gate for our heat, but “Super Jeff” did it with ease (Thanks Jeff)!! In the heat I had a pretty slow start, not surprising with a broken thumb, but managed to get back in the mix and overtake Sami into 3rd. I had a little battle with Mitchey on the way down for 2nd, but she held me off and I only managed to place 3rd in the heat, eventually finishing 28th overall. On reflection I was really happy with my skiing and to finish my involvement on the World Cup circuit on a high. And I can’t wait to get back in the heats for the last few Europa Cup and National Cup races of this season!

Em x

6 March 2010

hot off the press - world cups kick off again, branas, sweden!

After a little down time skiing powder and instructing 4 yr olds in Meribel to re-boost the skiing funds I am currently in Branas, Sweden where the World Cup has just finished.

I travelled through 5 countries in one day to arrive there Wednesday evening… France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden… What a journey!

The course at Branas is a great course with lots of long gliding sections and some great large jumps. The course felt pretty good on Thursday and yesterday, and more importantly I felt completely relaxed… I think the break gave me some time to relax and be Emily, less thinking and more go go go on the slopes! This is how I perform best, when I am relaxed and confident and my head is turned off (so to speak)!

My new Ski Tech Jeff missed flights but eventually arrived midnight on Thursday night/ Friday morning after 40 hours of travelling from the USA and professional as ever cracked straight on with prepping the skis and made them nice and fast. He only had 3 hours sleep before the qualification yesterday… Jeff, you are a legend!!

A couple of mistakes cost me some time in the qualification, but I managed to get a season best result finishing in 21st position! I was stoked with the result although it does feel a little bitter sweet when you come in front of other competitors who qualified 1 week previous at the Olympic games, but that has shown the British Olympic Association that they should have accepted my invitation, where I could have shown the nation what I can do in the sport!!

Unfortunately due to a smaller ladies field in Branas over the last few days, FIS ran with the top 16 qualifiers for today’s heats and finals, but at least my 21st is cemented in the results list! I hope you manage to watch it on Eurosport 2 today! Well done to the winners Ophelie David and Mike Schimd

Next stop is Switzerland where I am travelling to tomorrow for my final 2 World Cups of the season. I am looking forward to them and continuing to improve on my form and build some more confidence ready for a good start next winter!

Em x

 

25 February 2010

from alpe d'huez to north america and olympic disappointment

I haven’t written a proper blog for a while… I’ve had a lot on my plate over the last month or so… a roller coaster of emotions! I hope you enjoy!!…

Straight after Les Contamines (seems an age ago now) I headed across to Alpe D'Huez for the next World Cup. This was the first time they have hosted a World Cup, so I didn't know what to expect with the course. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it on inspection! Quite downhill like, with some huge jumps. I wasn't quite sure if I was going to make the gaps, but gave it everything and it felt awesome skiing down in the training! Unfortunately one double gap jump (about a 25 metre gap!) caught me out in the first training run and I didn't quite make the landing, landing pretty hard on the flat, which was a little too much for my knee to take. That night it was pretty swollen but luckily Rhian my masseuse was with me so she worked on it and strapped it solidly for race day.

As this was the last Olympic qualification race, I wasn't going to let my knee stop me skiing! I had a great training run before qualification and felt great, but unfortunately qualification didn’t go quite go so well and two mistakes crucified my speed and time... some races just don't go your way... but that is sport for you!

Ski Sunday came to the event and I did a couple of interviews with them, but frustratingly the interviews were never shown! Ski Sunday would have been the perfect platform to publicise the British Athletes as well as the sport to you the British public and see this amazing new sport on your TV screens!! In any case, with the men's and women's Olympics races on TV over the last few days I hope you have all got hooked (just like I've been over the years)!

I left Alpe D'Huez a little frustrated and headed back to Meribel to see some medical professionals and take a much needed rest for my knee... mixed opinions on the knee, but it was feeling better day by day so I was back skiing in no time!

With the knee feeling better I made a last minute decision to head across the pond to the two world cup races in USA and Canada… When I say last minute, I booked multi city flights 10pm on the Saturday evening for Rhian and me to head to Canada at 6am the following morning!!! Spontaneous, I know, but very exciting and we quickly packed, had a few hours sleep and headed to the airport ready for the 14 hour flight to Toronto, Canada!

Arriving in Toronto we picked up the hire car... packed it to the brim with skis, massage table and bags and tried to work out which side of the road we drove on before setting off on the 2 hour transfer to Blue Mountain Resort, Collingwood!

Blue Mountain is pretty bizarre, just one mountain, which comes to life a night with floodlit skiing till 10pm. What a strange sight... it almost looked like 7 dry ski slopes side by side under the floodlights!

The course was pretty sweet with lots of gliding and great jumps and so I was looking forward to race day! Unfortunately the snow fell hard on race day and although we got to race, it was delayed as the organisers tried to clear the snow from the racing line. Typical... It got a hold just before I left the start gate and in the space of 5 minutes another inch of snow fell and laid on the course... fresh snow isn't fast snow! Off I went with a nice solid run but unfortunately the time was not reflective. The snow had affected it so much, that everyone after me to the last racer were a good 3 seconds slower than expected due to the new snow... but that is nature for you, sometimes it works in your favour and sometimes it doesn't and that day it didn't!

On a positive note I qualified for the final heats ... I was stoked! This was the first finals I had been in since Canada last year where I injured my knee! I couldn't wait... skiing a ski cross course alone is fun, but skiing a ski cross course with 3 other people is insane and such an adrenaline buzz! I didn’t make it through the first heat, but I was so happy to have achieved my best result of the season so far finishing a respectable 32nd.

Straight after Blue Mountain we flew Toronto to Montreal, picked up a new hire car and headed to USA! Customs was interesting as Rhian and I arrived in our novelty sun glasses and little knowledge of our accommodation in Lake Placid... but they worked out we were there for good reasons and let us in to the country!

Whilst at Lake Placid we stayed in the USA Olympic Training Centre, which had great facilities. We could spin after skiing and my legs felt pretty fresh... and the 24 hour food hall access was pretty funky too... the Americans can make Brownies, FACT!

The Lake Placid course was jam packed with rollers, an interesting course but it didn't leave much room for error. With 4 riders racing head to head, there were a few accidents and a few fellow competitors received serious injuries, which will stop them from going to the Vancouver Winter Olympics... my heart goes out to them as I know exactly how that feels!

Anyway I qualified for the heats… second race in a row, which I was totally stoked about and ended up finishing 25th overall!! My best result of the season by far!! It is great knowing I have improved race on race this season since my knee injury last year in Canada.

At Lake Placid I learnt that the BOA (British Olympic Association) declined my invitation for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, as they didn't think I was 100% fit after my injury! This has been very hard to accept, knowing people in suits were making decisions about my future and career when I feel they don’t know the sport. It is extremely frustrating, but I can rest knowing I tried and did everything and anything possible to get fitness and strength back after my injury. I am really proud of myself that I am back racing World Cup level so soon after such a huge injury, but it is sickening to know that riders ranked lower than me in the world will be on the start line because the BOA declined my invitation! I am not the only british skier to have been affected: The whole selection process for alpine and free style skiing has been a shambles due to mismanagement and a lack of understanding by the BOA and the former Snow Sport GB.

My heart goes out to Flo Astier, the French ski cross racer who had a very bad crash in Lake Placid where he is being treated for a broken neck, 2 broken hips and broken ribs... good luck for a speedy recovery! X

Em X

11 January 2010

the new year begins... and it's world cup busy!
Sunday, 10 January 2010

Happy New Year to you all! Hope you all had a great festive season and ate too much and partied hard! I too, ate way too much but restricted myself on the partying as the World Cup races started straight after New Year!

As soon as the New Year started my manager Dan and I headed to Austria for the St Johann World Cup, a spectacular night event with over 5,000 tickets sold for the evening race. The course was good, packed full of jumps and features with a big 4 metre final jump, which threw you about 30 metres!! Unfortunately, the course was injected with ice, so it was like skiing on an ice rink and you couldn't get any grip at all. Injecting is often done in Alpine racing, however in Ski Cross it is not ideal as landing jumps on blue ice is extremely hard on the body and can cause a lot of injuries. Despite the problems with the snow the race was good and I got from top to bottom in one piece which was a feat after taking a big tumble in my final training and badly bruising my hip! Unfortunately the course took the better of a few of the riders with a total of 4 blood wagons and 2 helicopters to rescue the damaged riders. One or two of the injuries very serious... get well soon to you all!!

Austria... tick: And then it was back to France for the next 2 stops on the World Cup tour.

Dan was supposed to fly back to the UK after Austria, but unfortunately for his work and fortunately for me the airports in the UK were closed due to the snow so he was able to come and help me at the next race... perfect!

1st French stop was Les Contamines... always a great fun course, and this year was no exception, a course built full of features very similar to the Olympic course in Vancouver and very flowing! I really enjoyed the training, but it wasn't meant to be in the race and I didn't qualify for the finals. I was totally gutted and upset at not making the finals as I really wanted to race head to head on the course! However, Douige my coach and Dan gave me some words of wisdom after the race and pointed out that I am improving race on race and the areas I can further improve upon to get more speed (bring on Alpe d’Huez)!

I just want to say a big thank you to Rhian from Ski Physique (www.skiphysique.com) who provides me with massage, stretching and training to help me perform to my best. She always works her magic and my body felt great and ready to race, so if you ever need any advice, help or support to help you be physically ready for skiing, Rhian is your girl!

2nd French stop is the Alpe d'Huez World Cup, where Ski Sunday are going to come and film and hopefully show all you guys in the UK what we really get up to as Ski Cross athletes!

Hope your all enjoying the UK snow (check out his awesome picture: BBC News - Frozen Britain seen from above)! Have fun and keep warm!

Em x

24 December 2009

I am looking forward to a mini break over the festive period, as it was a busy day Tuesday… 2nd World Cup race in Italy followed by an 8-hour drive back to Meribel in France. I used the 2nd World Cup race for training and was really happy to complete the course and put down a time. I am now a lot more confident and looking forward to the next World Cup in Austria in the New Year! Anyway, I arrived back in Meribel to find a full apartment… my parents, sister and her boyfriend and of course lots of presies under the Christmas Tree! Christmas in the Alpes is always fun and I can’t wait for my Christmas dinner with all the trimmings followed by my mini Christmas cake courtesy of Animal: Thanks guys, it is awesome!! And then it’ll be back to lots of training in preparation for Austria. By the way I was back at the doctors today having my fifth(!) hole drilled in my big toenail to relieve yet more blood build up from behind it! Well, bye for now and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Lets hope it keeps snowing!!!!

21 December 2009

minus 20 degrees and the season has started!
Well the season is underway! I was doing more training with Dougie (R21) in Tignes and then it was back to Meribel for the opening of the resort and to settle in to my winter base. I had a great photo-shoot with Adam Johnston (www.photoski.eu) and Martin Jeffers over the last week along with great snow and blue sky’s, which was awesome fun... I can't wait for the powder to arrive to get some more shots in (watch this space for some new pic’s)! I had one last training day on jumps in The 3 Valleys then I set off for 2 training days in Austria before the first World Cup here in San Candido, Italy! The season seems to have come around so quickly, but I can't wait to get going again! The course here in Italy is good with some great features, there are a few jumps with flat landings which can cause a lot of impact in the legs, so used the first training sessions and race to get more jump practice in and really test the knee… There is one more race on Tuesday so I am looking forward to that! Unfortunately in the first training sessions I had some toe bash and ended up with a hematoma under my big toe nail (in English… lots of blood under my toe nail!) that was causing me a lot of pain and I was in tears when both Dougie, Adam and I were trying to get my ski boot on yesterday morning. We eventually got it on and I went and inspected the course, but before the race I had to go to the ambulance to get the doctor to drill a couple of holes through the nail to release the pressure... It sounds horrible but it totally worked so I was able to get back up the hill to ski. I might need another drill tomorrow! Well I better go and prepare my skis for the race on Tuesday! Catch you later.